1. Technical Field
The concept disclosed herein relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device that provides assisted entry of text based upon an existing message thread.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also feature a wireless or other communication capability, although other handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices. Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable, and thus are of a relatively compact configuration in which keys and other structures often perform multiple functions under certain circumstances or may otherwise have multiple aspects or features assigned thereto. With advances in technology, handheld electronic devices are built to have progressively smaller form factors yet have progressively greater numbers of applications and features resident thereon. As a practical matter, the keys of a keypad can only be reduced to a certain small size before the keys become relatively unusable.
In language entry applications, such as in an email or other messaging application, a keypad must be capable of generating substantially all of the elements desirable or necessary to form the relevant language. For example, in a language that employs Roman letters, a keypad must be capable of generating substantially all twenty-six of the Roman letters. In order to provide such functionality with relatively few keys, some keypads have included multiple linguistic elements per key, such as providing a plurality of Roman letters on each of at least some of the keys when the keypad is used to generate a language that employs Roman letters.
In order to make use of the multiple linguistic elements on any given key, numerous keystroke interpretation systems have been provided. For instance, a “multi-tap system” allows a user to substantially unambiguously specify a particular linguistic element, for example, on a key by pressing the same key a number of times equal to the position of the desired linguistic element on the key. Another keystroke interpretation system includes key chording in which keys are pressed in various combinations to achieve particular results. Still another keystroke interpretation system might include a disambiguation routine which seeks to interpret the keystrokes in view of stored dictionary data, linguistic rules, stored algorithms, and/or the like.
When replying to a previously received message (which may be part of a larger message thread), a user of a handheld electronic device may often want to enter words that appear in the previous message thread. In current handheld electronic devices, users are required to simply type the desired words using the keyboard provided with the handheld electronic device. As will be appreciated, this text entry can at times be cumbersome, especially when lengthy or unfamiliar words are being entered. This is especially true for handled electronic devices having reduced keyboards and employing a keystroke interpretation system as described above because in some keystroke interpretation systems, a user must expend substantial effort in entering language. It thus would be desirable to provide a handheld electronic device, such as a device having a reduced keyboard, wherein the device might make available to a user for simplified entry words form an existing message thread that the user might reasonably be expected to enter.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.